Design Engineer's Handbook

Student design engineers often require a "cookbook" approach to solving certain problems in mechanical engineering. With this focus on providing simplified information that is easy to retrieve, retired mechanical design engineer Keith L. Richards has written Design Engineer’s Handbook.

This book conveys the author’s insights from his decades of experience in fields ranging from machine tools to aerospace. Sharing the vast knowledge and experience that has served him well in his own career, this book is specifically aimed at the student design engineer who has left full- or part-time academic studies and requires a handy reference handbook to use in practice. Full of material often left out of many academic references, this book includes important in-depth coverage of key topics, such as:

• Effects of fatigue and fracture in catastrophic failures
• Lugs and shear pins
• Helical compression springs
• Thick-walled or compound cylinders
• Cam and follower design
• Beams and torsion
• Limits and fits and gear systems
• Use of Mohr’s circle in both analytical and experimental stress analysis

This guide has been written not to replace established primary reference books but to provide a secondary handbook that gives student designers additional guidance. Helping readers determine the most efficiently designed and cost-effective solutions to a variety of engineering problems, this book offers a wealth of tables, graphs, and detailed design examples that will benefit new mechanical engineers from all walks.

Keith L. Richards brings more than 55 years of practical experience as a design engineer to his Design Engineer’s Handbook. After completing an apprenticeship program and earning a Masters degree in Engineering Design from Loughborough University, UK, he worked in a wide range of industries, including work on steel and aluminum rolling mills, power transmission systems, aircraft components, power plants, offshore structures, and pneumatic/hydraulic circuits. He is proficient in CAD and computational software, and in applied stress analysis. Additionally, he has worked in project management, purchasing, contracts, and creation of design plans. He has tapped his broad range of engineering activities to make Design Engineer’s Handbook an indispensable guide for both new and experienced engineers.